Simmel (1858-1918) brought to sociology a multifaceted understanding of core social concerns in the works of small-scale human social interactions. Being a micro-sociologist, his main focus was on individuals. He viewed society acting as a complex of social affairs between individual’s who are in continuous interaction with one another. The definition of ‘society’ was for individuals to be continuously connected by interactions. (Guide, 2016) Simmel’s findings led him to act as a significant character in sociology but also a controversial individual posing conflictive views with other significant contributors such as the likes of Comte and Spencer. Simmel’s work has collectively received significant recognition as a major contribution to sociological …show more content…
An individual may choose to express a persona that goes against the social norms within a society. From Simmel’s perspective, fashion can bring this, social mobility and integration of individuals from lower social class backgrounds become conscious of styles and fashions of the elite. (Ashley and Orenstein: 314) Famous icons and elitists habitually create innovative looks and styles within fashion leading to them to inevitably create a subculture. (Simmel, no date) With this case, we can see this in today’s modern fashion culture, disreputably known hip-hop artist Kanye West has created and designed an array of clothing styles. Due to his high popularity from his music, many have urged to seek and claim his latest garments. We can see those wearing his clothing, are fans of Mr West, and essentially idolise him, thus creating a subculture. – From this example, we can claim that Simmel’s theory is up to date and applicable even though created in the 1904. (Benvenuto, no date) Unfashionable people can be also mentioned as creating a certain statement about themselves. Simmel claims, it shows a strong indication of rejecting the social norm by opposing what everyone dresses as the norm, engaging in an inverse form of …show more content…
The book written, unravels information on characteristics of society internally – of what’s inside society - from the perspective of a naive individual. For example, changes made to an individual’s personality and the forces that surround it. This concerns psychological functions of social life to the extent to which the metropolitan’s individuality is introduced. The escalation of emotional life from the rapid and constant transference of external and internal
"Kanye West: The Evolution of an Icon's Clothes." Esquirecom Article. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar.
Throughout the world of men’s fashion in the 50’s, a few men rose above social normalities and created a style everyone man wanted to follow. One of these men was Elvis Presley who was highly regarded in the music industry for his unique style. This originality carried through to his fashion choices with an obvious distaste of adhering to social standards. Elvis wore whatever pleased him; this included bright colours, patterns, large belts and even wearing his favourite colour of pink. Another key icon in men’s fashion was James dean. His simplistic yet edgy style became the ‘cool’ thing. His bad boy persona made the girls heart melt, making men all across the world try to achieve his look.
However it is best to first establish how sociology is misused when not imposed correctly. Berger criticizes the ordinary citizen who attempts to understand sociology by confusing it with fields of work that it can apply to. “Sociology is not a practice but an attempt to understand“; Berger elaborates this point by explaining why society must use the sociological perspective to correctly use their sociological knowledge. Mills has a similar contention with the misuse of sociology. The private orbs people find themselves stuck in remain intact unless they use their sociological imagination (Mills). Our sociological imaginations come from our ability to switch to and from differing social perspectives. If we are to practice sociology we must be able to envision how individual lives affect the world as a whole and vice versa. Anthony Giddens has described the individual who can embrace the sociological imagination as one who is able to “pull themselves away from the situation and to be able to think from an alternative point of view”. In other words, the ability to utilize sociological perspectives is a prerequisite for seeing the world through the sociological imagination. Therefore the authors support each other’s claims in these
Macionis, J and Plummer, K (2005). Sociology A global Introduction. 3rd ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. p.436.
6. Conclusion. Simmel's sociology can be regarded as similar to that of the other classic writers in some senses, although he had less to say about social structure or its dynamics than did Marx, Weber, or Durkheim He did discuss objective culture and his writings on money have some affinity with Weber's rationalization. Where his contribution is notable for contemporary sociology is his view of society, the emphasis on social interaction, and his writings on the city.
...lay in societal change. However it was only until the works of Durkheim and Simmel that the role of individual interaction and society is brought to the forefront. Durkheim largely viewed the individual as needing society as a mechanism of constraint to the aspirations of an eternal goal. Finally, Simmel was able to expand on Durkheim’s dualism by noting that society could be viewed as more than a mechanism of constraint rather as an accumulation of individual interaction. Either through a combination or as individuals each theorist distinct view of the relationship between the individual and society demonstrates a new understanding towards the nature of social reality.
It’s no secret that some women believe fashion portrays who they are. Therefore follow every season’s new trend. This leads to spending money that they don’t have. Waller Lea, a journalist, suggest that “for some communities, purchasing knockoffs or generic products are frowned upon, forcing minorities to spend more money. Now businesses and companies are targeting minorities, causing more debt problems.” Addicted to retail or brainwashed? Opponents claim that fashion is simply a creative way to express themselves. There are others ways to express ourselves that are no based on our appearance. Through drawing, painting or through our thoughts and ideas. What happens when someone can’t afford expensive clothing or doesn’t have access to fashionable clothes? They are singled out and excluded from society for being different.
The Trickle-down theory, a well-known theory in fashion industry, has significant meaning in 19th to 20th century Europe. The American economist and sociologist, Veblen, published The theory of the Leisure Class by 1899, in which he discussed the split between the leisure class and the industrial class in the US critically. He concluded that leisure class treats dress as a sign of their status and possessions, furthermore, ‘Dress must not only be conspicuously expensive and inconvenient; it must at the same time be up to date’(Veblen 1994), by saying that, he refers to upper class was tend to create new fashion trend which was the top of the trickle-down theory. In the 20th century, Simmel, the German sociologist and philosopher, developed this theory further from a more sympathetic perspective. He drew much attention to sameness and difference amongst both classes in his book Fashion (Simmel 1973). The upper class gets self-satisfied and the proof of its priority by distinguishing itself from others, and working class follows the fashion trend which led by upper class in order to feel like he or she is ‘belonging to’ higher class. These opinions which were discussed by Veblen and Simmel were coined by a journalist in the mid-20th century, as ‘Trickle- down Theory’. During mid-18th to early 20th century, the trickle-down theory described the process of how fashion flows, and explains that fashion is a cultural and sociological phenomenon which includes the discourse of identity and uniformity, agency and structuralism. This phenomenon was not limited by geography, at the same period, in the other side of the world, similar situation happened in China which is a typical East Asian country....
Fashion plays an important role in the lives of billions all over the world; people, as part of a status craving society, turn to “fashion capitals” of the world for ways in which to dress and carry themselves. New York, Milan, and Paris are leaders among this fierce industry that the world lusts after. Fashion can speak volumes about ones personality, or also about the condition the world is in at the time. In France, fashion changed rapidly and feverously as the times changed.
On reading the excerpts by Peter Berger and C. Wright Mills, it is obvious that these two sociologists have very different methods as to how the practice of sociology should be conducted. While these two authors may differ in their various methods, they both have an underlying point that they are trying to make which can be made applicable in any person’s daily life.
In the “Metropolis and the Mental Life”, Georg Simmel aims to explicate the confines and conventions of modern life. Simmel accomplishes this as he compares modern life in a metropolis with that of the countryside, noting the behaviours and characteristics of people in response to external factors. Simmel explains this by explicitly detailing how social structures affect certain personal connections. Several prominent themes of urban living are investigated and considered by Simmel in his article, the main points, harshness of the metropolis, modernity and subjective and objective cultures, are discussed in this essay.
‘The stranger’ as Simmel may suggest, helps assist individuals to build their own identity within the group, they can do this through imitation by adopting certain styles. By imitating, the individual experiences the feeling of being part of the group, providing the individual with satisfaction of not “standing alone in his actions” (Simmel, 1908, p.295). The stranger and fashion operates similarly in terms of the desire to be different and wanting to fit in. For instance, the cherry headband would not become so popular if it was completely different to the mainstream style. The headband had to still carry an attractive quality, for example the cherry headband had a glittery effect (see fig. 2) that is quite appealing so it balances the product in terms of being unique but is still
Fashion in the 21th century is a big business, as its production employs millions of people and generates billions of dollars in revenue. Fashion has for the past century been, and is still today, used as an indicator of social change and progress, as it changes with the social norms of the society and the political changes of the world (Finkelstein 3).
The sociological imagination can be termed as the habit of being in a point to “think ourselves away.” This is thinking differently from our routinely daily lives occurrences in order to view them with new, critical eyes. The sociological imagination concept was created by a sociologist by the name C. Wright Mills. In his definition, he conceptualized the sociological imagination as the detailed awareness of the connection between experience and the wider society. In this essay, detailed analysis of sociological imagination will do to show how it has been used to understand the networked society by sociologists.
To begin with, I shall look at what fashion is; it is a currently popular style or practice involving clothing, footwear or accessories. It mostly refers to the current trends in looks and dressing style of a person (Cumming 234). In most cases, fashion is confusedly related to costumes; when a person talks of fashion they are seen to mean fashion in terms of textile. Fashion is seen to originate from the Western world and it is copied by other places. In this paper, we shall look at how fashion affects lifestyles and the group of people who are affected most. The paper further investigates how media is used to transmit fashion from one region to the other. Although it has been seen to affect people’s lives many people have different perspectives on fashion and dressing.